Performance comparison between ceramic Ce:GAGG and single crystal Ce:GAGG with digital-SiPM

• Published in: Journal of instrumentation Vol. 12; no. 1; p. P01002
• Main Authors: Park, C., Kim, C., Kim, J., Lee, Y., Lee, K., Yeom, J.Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 02.01.2017
• Subjects: Alternative energy sources; Ceramics; Charged particles; Decay rate; Detectors; Instrumentation; Medical imaging; Single crystals
• ISSN: 1748-0221; 1748-0221
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-0221/12/01/P01002

The Gd sub(3) Al sub(2) Ga sub(3) O sub(12)(Ce:GAGG) is a new inorganic scintillator known for its attractive properties such as high light yield, stopping power and relatively fast decay time. In this study, we fabricated a ceramic Ce:GAGG scintillator as a cost-effective alternative to single crystal Ce:GAGG and, for the first time, investigated their performances when coupled to the digital silicon photomultiplier (dSiPM)-a new type of photosensor designed for applications in medical imaging, high energy and astrophysics. Compared to 3 x 3 x 2 mm super(3) sized single crystal Ce:GAGG, the translucent ceramic Ce:GAGG, which has a much lower transmittance than the single crystal, was determined to give an output signal amplitude that is approximately 61% of single crystal Ce:GAGG. The energy resolution of the 511 keV annihilation peak of a super(22) Na source was measured to be 9.9 + or - 0.2% and 13.0 + or - 0.3% for the single and ceramic scintillators respectively. On the other hand, the coincidence resolving time (CRT) of ceramic Ce:GAGG was 307 + or - 23 ps, better than the 465 + or - 37 ps acquired with single crystals-probably attributed to its slightly faster decay time and higher proportion of the fast decay component. The ceramic Ce:GAGG may be a promising cost-effective candidate for applications that do not require thick scintillators such as x-ray detectors and charged particle detectors, and those that require time-of-flight capabilities.